An ancient Chinese adage says: ‘A tree grows from the roots.’ Yin and Yang and the Five Elemental Energies form the main roots in the Taoist tree of health, and the entire edifice of traditional Chinese medicine and physiology is based upon the foundation of these energy principles.
The Five Elemental Energies and their cycles provide a practical working model through which the interrelationships between the human body and the natural environment may be understood and controlled. They also illuminate the internal functional relationships between the body’s various vital organs and explain how external elements such as foods and medicinal herbs influence the organs and their functions. All aspects of human health, including physiology and pathology, diagnosis and therapy, are rooted in this remarkably reliable system of polar forces and cyclic energy transformations. Continue reading
